How to sprint faster: acceleration, top speed and the training that works

Two jobs: accelerate, then hold top speed

Better sprinters accelerate for longer, and even they hold their top speed for only about 10 to 30 m.

Source 1

Speed comes from the ground

Faster runners reach higher top speeds by pushing harder into the ground, not by moving their legs faster. When you accelerate, pushing backwards matters more than how hard you push in total.

Sources 2, 3

You can get faster

Sprint at full effort with full rest, and add strength and jump training. People who aren't elite typically cut their sprint times by about 1.5 to 3% over 6 to 12 weeks, though most studies were in young men who play team sports.

Sources 4, 5, 6

Sleds and drills matter less than people think

Sleds improved the first 20 m, but for most people no more than the same sprints without a sled. No study has tested drills on their own, so use them to warm up.

Sources 7, 8, 9, 1, 6

Time it properly

Use timing gates or a phone app that films your run. A stopwatch reads about 0.2 seconds fast, and that can't be reliably corrected.

Sources 10, 11

Look after your hamstrings

About half of football's match hamstring strains happen while sprinting. Build speed over weeks, sprint regularly and keep the Nordic curl in your week: it builds lowering strength, though whether it halves injuries is less certain than often claimed.

Sources 12, 13, 14, 15

Acceleration and top speed

Acceleration is speeding up from a standing or crouched start, and top speed is the fastest you can run. A flying sprint, timed after a build-up run, trains and tests top speed.

Source 1

Pushing into the ground

In 33 people tested on a treadmill that measured their ground forces, top speeds ranged from 6.2 to 11.1 metres a second (about 22 to 40 km/h, our arithmetic). The fastest pushed down about 1.26 times harder, while the time their legs took to swing through the air didn't differ.

Source 2

Pointing the push forwards

In 12 men, how far forwards they directed their push while accelerating mattered more for their 100 m performance than how much force they produced in total.

Source 3

Step length and step rate

Your speed is your step length times your step rate, and the two trade off: athletes with longer steps tended to take them less often. Copying an elite sprinter's long stride tends to make an ordinary runner slower.

Sources 16, 1

The arms

Folding the arms across the chest slowed 30 m sprints by only 1.6% (4.90 against 4.82 seconds), so the arms mainly keep you balanced. Their exact role is still poorly studied.

Sources 17, 18

How fast people run

In Usain Bolt's 9.58-second 100 m, his fastest 20 m (from 60 to 80 m) took 1.61 seconds: about 12.4 metres a second, or 45 km/h (our arithmetic from the review's split times). In the lab group above, from recreational runners to sprinters, top speeds were about 22 to 40 km/h.

Sources 1, 2

Sprint training worksEmerging evidence

Across 48 studies of 1,485 people, training that included sprinting cut sprint times by about 3% on average. Strength and jump training helped most over distances beyond about 30 m, and combining methods helped most over the first 10 m.

Source 4

Most methods help, and none is clearly bestEmerging evidence

In athletes from football, rugby and similar sports, trained for about 8 weeks at two sessions a week, most training methods gave moderate gains over the first 10 m, and no single method was clearly best. Small studies with good results seemed more likely to be published, so the true gains may be smaller.

Source 6

Elite sprinters improve slowlyStrong evidence

The world's top 100 sprinters improved by only 0.1 to 0.2% a year in their early 20s, and national-level sprinters by 1.3 to 1.4% a year. The further you are from your limit, the more room you have.

Source 1

Strength carries overEmerging evidence

Across 15 studies, those with bigger gains in squat strength tended to show bigger gains in speed, and sprint times improved by 3.11% on average. Stronger half squats also went with faster 10 and 30 m sprints in 17 elite footballers, an association.

Sources 5, 19

Jump training helps, especially jumping forwardsEmerging evidence

Across 26 studies, jump training improved sprinting most in programmes of under 10 weeks with at least 15 sessions and more than 80 jumps a session, using jumps that travel forwards, such as bounds. Adding weight to the jumps gave no extra benefit.

Source 20

Sleds: better than nothing, not clearly better than sprintingMixed evidence

Across 13 studies, sled training improved acceleration by a moderate amount, but no more than the same sprints without a sled, and its effect on top speed wasn't significant. Reviews in team-sport players and in young footballers found no difference from plain sprinting either.

On the other side, a 2025 analysis of 49 studies found moderate sleds (20 to 50% of body weight) and very heavy ones (80% or more) did beat plain sprinting, mainly in trained athletes, while light sleds or none are probably enough for recreational players. In 50 high school athletes, sled pushes at three loads improved 5 to 20 m times more than plain sprints over 8 weeks. The most consistent benefit is acceleration over 20 m or less.

Sources 7, 8, 21, 9, 22, 23

Heavy sleds don't wreck your techniqueEmerging evidence

In 32 professional footballers, 9 weeks of heavy sled sprints improved 10 to 30 m times without changing sprint technique beyond measurement error. In a pilot trial in 16 amateur players, a very heavy sled (80% of body weight) improved how well they pushed backwards more than plain sprints did.

Sources 24, 25

HillsEmerging evidence

In 54 students, 8 weeks of combined uphill and downhill sprinting raised top speed by 4.3%, against 1.7% for sprinting on the flat, and uphill sprints helped hockey players in a small trial (7 against 7 players). A slope also caps your speed, which makes hills a gentler way in.

Sources 26, 27, 1

Weighted vests and limb weightsMixed evidence

They slow you down while you wear them, and there's no good evidence of a lasting benefit. We found no trial of sprint parachutes.

Sources 28, 29

DrillsMixed evidence

Drills such as skips don't copy the movements of sprinting, and no study has tested them on their own. A wall drill opened an 8-week speed programme that improved 20 and 30 m sprints in 19 young female footballers, but the drill wasn't tested by itself. Use drills in your warm-up to rehearse positions.

Sources 6, 1, 30

What elite sprinters do

Acceleration sessions: sprints of 10 to 50 m at more than 98% effort, 2 to 7 minutes' rest and 100 to 300 m in all. Top-speed sessions: flying sprints of 10 to 30 m after a 20 to 40 m build-up, 4 to 15 minutes' rest and 50 to 150 m in all, with 48 to 72 hours between hard sessions. That's best practice gathered in a review, not tested in trials.

Source 1

Our scaled-down version

About 100 to 200 m of fast running a session is plenty for most people: our workout uses 5 accelerations of 15 m and 3 flying sprints of 20 m, about 135 m. Walk back and rest 1 to 2 minutes more after short accelerations, and 3 to 4 minutes after flying sprints. These distances and rests are our editorial starting point, at the low end of elite practice and with shorter rests.

Source 1

Build up over weeks

Keep to about 90% effort for the first 4 weeks, as our sprint intervals move advises, then go to full effort. After that, add a sprint or two before you add distance: our workout goes from 5 and 3 sprints to 6 and 4 (our editorial progression).

Strength and jumps

Two strength sessions a week, stopping each set 2 to 3 reps short of failure, plus bounds and broad jumps. Elite sprinters lift on the day after a speed session or later on the same day; for everyone else, that's our editorial starting point.

Sources 5, 20, 1

Young people

A meta-analysis of sprint training in boys suggests up to 16 sprints of about 20 m, twice a week, with at least 90 seconds between them. UK Athletics, as quoted in the elite review, starts young or new sprinters with 20 m runs from a crouched start and 2 minutes' rest, and a 20 m build-up into a 10 m flying sprint with about 4 minutes' rest.

Sources 31, 1

Stopwatches read fastStrong evidence

Over 40 yards (about 37 m), hand timing read 0.22 to 0.26 seconds faster than electronic timing, with errors of about 0.15 seconds either way, and it can't be reliably corrected. Over 10 to 20 m, don't hand-time at all.

Sources 10, 11, 32

The set-up matters more than you'd thinkStrong evidence

Different starting positions and ways of triggering the clock can change times by more than years of training would. Compare only times taken the same way.

Source 32

Timing gatesEmerging evidence

In elite handball players, gate times varied from test to test by 2.8% over 5 m, 1.9% over 10 m and 1.5% over 20 m, so the shortest sprints are the noisiest. Over 40 yards, the smallest change worth noticing was 0.12 seconds.

Sources 33, 10

Phone appsEmerging evidence

Apps that film your run at high speed agreed almost perfectly with timing gates in 12 sprinters, and another was about 0.01 seconds out in 5 people. The samples were small.

Sources 34, 35

Sprinting is when they goEmerging evidence

In 342 hamstring strains in football analysed on video, about half (48.8%) happened while sprinting.

Source 12

Nordic curls build lowering strengthStrong evidence

Across 13 studies, Nordic curls raised eccentric hamstring strength (strength while the muscle lengthens under load) by a large amount and lengthened the muscle fibres within 6 weeks or more. Four weeks was too short.

Source 14

Low volumes work, but keep goingEmerging evidence

Low weekly volumes worked as well as high ones. In 20 men, the fibres lengthened by 23 to 24% and strength rose by 28 to 34%, but the fibre gains reversed within 2 weeks of stopping.

Sources 14, 36

Nordic curls and injuriesEmerging evidence

Programmes that include the Nordic curl were linked with about half as many hamstring injuries, and two large football trials found big falls, but when only properly randomised trials are pooled the effect is uncertain.

Across 15 studies of 8,459 athletes, programmes including the Nordic curl had about half the rate of hamstring injuries, and the two largest football trials found about 70% fewer (our arithmetic). But only 5 of those studies assigned people to the Nordic itself at random; re-analysed with a sixth trial, the effect was inconclusive, and a 2026 analysis of 11 football trials found the Nordic on its own had an uncertain effect, at low to very low certainty.

Sources 37, 38, 39, 15, 40

Nordic curls and speedEmerging evidence

Across 17 studies, Nordic curl training made 10 m sprints slightly faster, by about 0.06 seconds.

Source 41

Warm-up programmesStrong evidence

The FIFA 11+ warm-up, which includes Nordic curls, cut football injuries by 39% across trials. For hamstring injuries alone, it cut them by about 45% in the 2026 analysis, but at low certainty.

Sources 42, 43, 40

Sprint regularlyEmerging evidence

In one squad of 37 Gaelic footballers, players who reached more than 95% of their top speed in training had fewer leg injuries, and both too little and too much exposure raised the risk. Sprinting regularly, rather than now and then, may be part of the protection (our reading of one study).

Source 13

A Nordic routine

Keep the Nordic curl in your week: 2 or 3 sets of 3 to 6, twice a week, is a reasonable start (our editorial dose). The FIFA 11+ builds from 3 to 5 reps to 7 to 10, then 12 to 15, and our hamstring and groin workout follows a 10-week build. Expect sore hamstrings for the first week or two.

Sources 43, 14

Genes and trainingStrong evidence

Sprinting is heavily dependent on genes, but the things that drive it, such as power, technique and the ability to repeat sprints, are trainable. Elite sprinters peak at about 25 to 26.

Source 1

Women and menStrong evidence

Women's top speed is about 10% lower than men's, and world-record gaps in sprinting are about 8 to 12%. The training is the same.

Sources 1, 44

AgeEmerging evidence

Masters sprinters were 5 to 7% slower per decade, and more so from about 65 to 70, mainly through shorter steps and longer ground contacts. Sprint records fall less steeply with age than endurance records. These compare different people at different ages, rather than following the same people.

Sources 45, 46

Young peopleMixed evidence

Boys responded well to sprint training, but studies disagree about which stage of growth responds best, and speed develops with biological maturity rather than age. Keep sprints short, with plenty of rest and a coach.

Sources 31, 47, 48, 49

Call 999 now (911 in the US)

Stop and call 999 for:

• Chest pain or discomfort that doesn't go away (it can feel like squeezing or pressure), pain that spreads to your arms, neck, jaw, stomach or back, or chest pain with sweating, feeling sick, light-headedness or breathlessness.
• Someone who faints while exercising.
• A pounding, fluttering or irregular heartbeat that doesn't go away, or comes with chest pain, breathlessness or feeling faint.
• Severe difficulty breathing: gasping, choking or not able to get words out.

Sources 50, 51, 52, 53, 54

A hamstring injury

A sharp pain at the back of your thigh while sprinting is the typical sign, sometimes with a snapping feeling or a pop if it's severe. Get help from NHS 111 (in the US, urgent care) if it's very painful or getting worse, there's a lot of swelling or bruising, it hurts to walk or stand, or it isn't getting better after looking after it yourself. Our hamstring strain guide covers the rest.

Source 55

Stop sprinting for the day

At the first tightness at the back of your thigh, in your calf or in your groin, stop rather than doing one more sprint. Stop too if you feel dizzy, sick or far more breathless than usual.

See a GP about your heart

• You have ever fainted, have chest pain that comes and goes, or have palpitations that keep coming back or last more than a few minutes.
• Breathlessness, chest pain, palpitations, light-headedness or blackouts that come on with exertion: these can be signs of an inherited heart condition such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
• Someone in your family died suddenly under the age of 35: relatives are entitled to heart screening on the NHS.

Sources 51, 50, 52, 56, 57, 58

"You can't get faster: sprinters are born"Emerging evidence

Genes matter a lot, but power and technique are trainable, and people who aren't elite typically cut their sprint times by about 1.5 to 3%.

Sources 1, 4, 5

"Longer strides make you faster"Emerging evidence

Faster runners push harder into the ground rather than reaching further, and copying an elite stride makes most people slower.

Sources 2, 16, 1

"Drills make you faster"Mixed evidence

No study has tested drills on their own, and they don't copy sprinting's movements. Use them to warm up, then sprint.

Sources 6, 1

"Parachutes, ankle weights and weighted vests make you faster"Mixed evidence

Vests and limb weights slow you while you wear them, with no good evidence of a lasting benefit, and we found no parachute trial.

Sources 28, 29

"Sleds beat sprinting"Mixed evidence

For most people, sleds were no better than the same sprints without one, though moderate or very heavy sleds helped trained athletes more.

Sources 7, 8, 9

"Heavy sleds ruin your technique"Emerging evidence

In professional footballers, heavy sled training improved sprint times without changing sprint technique beyond measurement error.

Source 24

"Static stretching before sprints kills your speed"Strong evidence

Only long holds, of 60 seconds or more per muscle, cost much, and when a moving warm-up followed there was no clear effect. If you like to stretch, keep the holds short and do your drills and build-up runs afterwards.

Sources 59, 60

"Nordic curls halve hamstring injuries"Emerging evidence

Programmes that include the Nordic curl were linked with about half as many hamstring injuries, and two large football trials found big falls, but when only properly randomised trials are pooled the effect is uncertain. It's still worth doing for the lowering strength it builds.

Sources 37, 38, 39, 15, 40